Singapore Chapter Celebrates its Silver Jubilee

The IIMA Alumni in Singapore celebrated the Silver Jubilee of the Alumni Association’s Singapore Chapter through a set of events and activities, culminating in a fantastic Gala Dinner event held on January 20, 2024.

In the lead up to the Gala Dinner, there were four key activities conducted included–(a) a Tree Planting event, in partnership with National Parks Singapore’s OneMIllionTrees initiative, (b) Nostalgia Nite, (c) launching a Commemorative Book to celebrate the legacy of IIMA Alumni in Singapore over the past 25+ years and (d) facilitating the MoU between IIMA and the Singapore Management University (SMU).

The Nostalgia Nite November 3, 2023

The Chapter held a Nostalgia Quiz and Networking Nite which was attended by over 40+ alumni and alumni spouses. Niloy Mukherjee, with help from other volunteers, conducted a Nostalgia Quiz, where the questions took them back down memory lane to days on campus.

It was a fun-filled evening of nostalgia quizzing, food, drink and conversations. There were several teams, and in the end, the winners were Team Dumbledore – Kapil Jain, Sanjay Shah, Debabrata Panda, Amit Sawarkar, Mohit Gidwani, Shankar Bora and Prashant Kothari. Winners received a prize of 50% discount on the tickets for the Silver Jubilee Gala Dinner.

The ExCo and volunteer team also shared details of the plans for subsequent events leading up to the Gala Dinner – to build momentum for the upcoming events.

Plant-a-Tree Event

November 24, 2023

The IIMA Alumni Association Singapore partnered with National Parks’ OneMillion Trees initiative to plant 25 trees in commemoration of our association’s Silver Jubilee.

It was a wonderful and meaningful morning of fun, contribution to the environment and literally setting up roots in Singapore. The alumni team (including some enthusiastic spouses and kids) went about the planting of 25 trees with gusto and support from the helpful NParks staff. There was some hard work, sweat, camaraderie, tempo shout, smiles and lots of joy on seeing ‘our’ trees planted on the ground. The trees will be there, on Pasir Ris Drive 12 for years to come, reflecting our contributions and legacy – a source of joy.

We will remember the motivating words of Mr. Girija Pande (1975 batch) on the occasion – encouraging us alumni to take the time out to contribute to the community and society.

The IIMA Alumni Singapore Commemorative Book

Singapore Chapter launched a Commemorative Book in celebration of the Association Chapter’s Silver Jubilee, to capture the legacy of our alumni in Singapore over the past 25+ years. Many of the batches gave in write-ups and pictures. Senior alumni like Mr. Piyush Gupta, Mr. R. Srinivasan, Mr. Girija Pande and Mr. Ravi Thakran were generous with their time to offer interviews and reminisce about their journey from campus days to the present, and how IIMA as well as Singapore as a welcoming country have both played a significant role in their success.

The Commemorative Book was revealed at the Silver Jubilee Gala Dinner event by Dr. Shilpak Ambule (Indian High Commissioner to Singapore) and one of our senior most alumni in Singapore, Mr. R. Srinivasan (Co-founder of Redington, Chancellor of Shiv Nadar University).

We would also like to thank the volunteers Niloy Mukherjee, Dharmesh Shah and Mum Taggu for leading the work to put together the Commemorative Book

Facilitating the MoU between IIMA and Singapore Management University (SMU)

The IIMA Alumni Association Singapore helped initiate and facilitate an MoU between IIMA and SMU, which is the pre-eminent management university in Singapore. Mr. Piyush Gupta, senior IIMA alumnus, who is Group CEO of DBS Bank, as well as Chairperson of SMU, helped with the initial connections to SMU’s international relations team. The volunteers from the Association then helped connect this international relations team with the IIMA Alumni and External relations team.

The SMU team followed up initial discussions with a visit to the IIMA campus, which helped stress the importance of this collaboration. Several areas of collaboration have been identified, including Faculty collaboration in the areas of AI, public governance etc. as well as exploring a student exchange programme, including the potential for a joint masters programme.

The MoU was signed at the Silver Jubilee Gala Dinner by Prof. Bharat Bhaskar, Director IIMA and Prof. Lily Kong, President of SMU – in the presence of Mr. Piyush Gupta, Chairperson of SMU and Dr. Shilpak Ambule, the Indian High Commissioner to Singapore and Professor Sunil Maheshwari, Dean (Alumni & External Relations), IIMA.

The work done by Association volunteers Ravish Kumar (with support from Sunitha Venkatraman) is commendable in making this happen.

Silver Jubilee Gala Dinner

 January 20, 2024

The IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Association (Singapore Chapter) Silver Jubilee Gala Dinner event was held on January 20^th, 2024, at the Crystal Ballroom in the Holiday Inn City Centre, Singapore. The event saw  around 300 attendees spanning IIM Ahmedabad alumni, their spouses, and key guests and dignitaries such as Mr. Ravi Menon (ex-MD, Monetary Authority of Singapore), Dr. Shilpak Ambule (Indian High Commissioner to Singapore), Mr. Lee Chuan Teck (CEO of Enterprise SG), Mr. Seah Chin-Siong (Chairperson of NVPC), Prof. Bharat Bhaskar (Director, IIM Ahmedabad), Prof. Sunil Maheshwari (Dean, IIM Ahmedabad), Prof. Lily Kong (President, Singapore Management University). as well as distinguished alumni such as Mr. Piyush Gupta (Group CEO, DBS Bank), Mr. R. Srinivasan (Co-founder of Redington and Chancellor of Shiv Nadar University in India) and Mr. Girija Pande (ex Asia Pacific CEO, TCS and Former Board Member of NCSS).

The theme of the event was ‘Reconnect – Rejoice – Reflect,’ focused on reconnecting with fellow alumni, rejoicing the legacy of the past 25+ years of IIM Ahmedabad alumni contributions and reflect on how the alumni as a community can contribute and create even more economic and social impact in the future, both in Singapore, as well as in India. Rahul Phondke, IIMA alumnus and long-serving past ExCo member of the Association, was the Master of Ceremonies and did a stellar job in keeping the audience engaged through the evening.

Mr. Ravi Menon gave the Guest of Honour address stressing on the significant bridging role that IIM alumni can play in bringing Singapore closer to India and fostering business and economic ties. Another highlight was a very engaging panel discussion featuring Mr. Piyush Gupta, Mr. Lee Chuan Teck, Mr. Chin-Siong and Mr. Girija Pande; excellently moderated by Ms. Nayantara Bali (IIM A Alumna, ex-VP, P&G; Independent Director for Starhub and other companies). Mr Suresh Shankar, President of the Pan-IIM Alumni Association, gave the opening remarks to the panel discussion. The theme of the discussion was ‘Building SG’s Future: Contributing to the Economy, Society and Culture.’

This was followed by the signing of an MoU between IIM Ahmedabad and Singapore Management University. Prof. Bhasker from IIMA and Prof. Lily Kong from SMU spoke of the importance of such collaborations, and how they see this as the beginning of a fruitful exchange of ideas, through joint faculty research, student exchanges etc.

The Indian High Commissioner, along with senior alumnus Mr. R. Srinivasan, launched the Commemorative Book released for the 25^th anniversary celebrations. The High Commissioner spoke on the main theme of the event and encouraged alumni to contribute to building the Singapore-India relationship.

The formal part of the event was followed by the dinner, catered to from the award-winning Tandoor restaurant. Post the dinner, Chhavi Moodgal, Head of the IIMA Endowment Fund, gave a talk on the Endowment. This was followed by the Singapore launch talk of the book ‘Leapfrog: six Practices to Thrive at Work,’ written by Prof. Mukesh Sud from IIM Ahmedabad and Dr. Priyank Narayan, Centre for Entrepreneurship (Ashoka University).

The audience was then regaled by Rishi Budhrani, one of Singapore’s foremost stand-up comedians. Anand Nandakumar, President of the IIMA Alumni Association, gave a vote of thanks to the guests, attendees, current and long-serving past ExCo members, volunteers and sponsors for their support.

The enthusiastic alumni continued dancing into the night, with music by DJ Melvin.

The IIMA Alumni Association (Singapore Chapter) partnered with Climes to enable this 25^th Anniversary Silver Jubilee Gala Dinner event to be carbon neutral. We were able to purchase carbon credits to offset the estimated carbon emissions from the event by supporting three projects in India, namely

• Reforestation of degraded land by MTPL
• Improving health and environment by supplying clean cookstoves by EKI Energy Services
• Converting organic waste to clean energy by Mahindra WTE Solutions

These are all Verra Verified projects, ensuring that they truly result in carbon reduction and or avoidance.

Apart from the offsetting of carbon emissions, which is in line with SDG 13 (Climate Action), these projects also touch on other SDGs namely SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth).

A big thank you to the key guests, ExCo members, batch champions, volunteers and sponsors to make this event happen.